Another crazy game for Canada - Drouin lost his cool, McDavid was still stapled to the bench until Hudon got hurt... and after the Czech game where Mantha looked pretty one dimensional, he had a big game against the Slovaks making smart plays and looking pretty good at the point on the power play.

Horvat is Canada's go-to guy for faceoffs, but looks sluggish on the rush when you compare him to elite talents like Reinhart, McDavid, and Drouin. But Horvat consistently goes to the net, and has a knack for getting open for offensive chances.

Horvat isn't an overly aggressive player for his size, keeps it very simple, but is very reliable. His skating is a concern but it could be the big ice, definitely not a speedster. My only concern is that he seems gassed at the end of his shift, quite sluggish. Said it before seems like a steady eddie, nothing flashy, bigger version of Brenden Morrisson without the speed. Strikes me as a 2nd line centre type, not first line centre material unless he has two star wingers on his line, could see him being the glue like Mo was to Nas and Bert if he has two highly skilled wingers to play with.

"I just want to say one word to you. Just one word. Are you listening? - Plastics." - The Graduate

I think Horvat will eventually reach the same level as guys like Kesler, Mike Richards, and Patrice Bergeron.

He won't be a true franchise player, but will be just below that level like the aforementioned.

I'm probably sounding a bit biased here, but that's how I see Horvat panning out. He'll be one of the best 2nd line players in the game and/or one of the best facilitators/support players on a 1st line playing alongside an 'alpha' franchise player.

20 years down the road, I can see Horvat going down as being amongst the Top 10 Canucks of all-time.

It will be interesting to see how Canada - and more importantly BoHo - fares against the Americans. In fairness to what I saw of Horvat's play today, neither Reinhart nor McDavid looked good out there and I wonder if he wasn't under orders to be the defensive conscience of the line.

One thing I noticed in what I saw of the game was when Slovakia was up, they trapped up the neutral zone and clogged up the middle of the ice in their own zone. Canada could wheel all they wanted on the outside. Given the final score I wish I'd been able to see the whole game.

One WJHC does not a pro career make - whether it be for Horvat, Mantha, McDavid or anybody else. I still think Horvat will either be a solid 2nd line centre or a top 3rd line centre of a mould the Canucks will prize for years to come. You'd just like to see a little more bull in a china shop and dominance out there. Maybe it is the bigger ice.

Sweden beat Russia 3-2. Perfect record so far; four games, four regulation time victories.Unless Finland loses to the Swiss with blowout figures, they'll end second, which means Russia is in third place in the group and will face the loser in the US vs Canada game in the quarter final.

Per wrote:Sweden beat Russia 3-2. Perfect record so far; four games, four regulation time victories.Unless Finland loses to the Swiss with blowout figures, they'll end second, which means Russia is in third place in the group and will face the loser in the US vs Canada game in the quarter final.

Guess Canada had better make sure to win tonight.

Ask and ye shall receiver, Per.

Canada wins in regulation, and will play the Swiss in the Quarterfinals. USA gets Russia, in what will be a stern test.

If Canada wins, they will then play the winner of the Finn/Czech game. Certainly an easier route to the Finals than Russia-Sweden.

I think that's how it was drawn up from the start. Canada has yet to hit their full stride, but from the 2nd period on they were very good against the USA, so things are coming together in time for the games that matter.

Sweden will be battle tested if they make the Gold Medal game. Canada might have some push back from the Swiss, but it's not the same level of opposition as the USA/Russian/Swedes of the tourney.

Single-game elimination means the better team doesn't always win, so we certainly can't look past anyone... that being said you can bet the organizers and sponsors really want Canada in that Final. I'm sure the Swedes would love to beat Canada on home ice too.

I still think the Swedes are the team to beat, but I'm hoping Canada's young team (second-youngest ever and youngest since 1987) can pull it together in time.

RoyalDude wrote:Horvat isn't an overly aggressive player for his size, keeps it very simple, but is very reliable. His skating is a concern but it could be the big ice, definitely not a speedster. My only concern is that he seems gassed at the end of his shift, quite sluggish. Said it before seems like a steady eddie, nothing flashy, bigger version of Brenden Morrisson without the speed. Strikes me as a 2nd line centre type, not first line centre material unless he has two star wingers on his line, could see him being the glue like Mo was to Nas and Bert if he has two highly skilled wingers to play with.

I see him as a 2nd line type as well. 50 - 60 point guy who can play the whole ice. Like an O'Reilley or a Bergeron.

Hopefully he is better than Morrison . B Mo was 5ft 9 standing on a phone book, soft and was certainly not the glue to his line. With a good centre those guys would have put up some scary numbers.

Blob Mckenzie wrote:Hopefully he is better than Morrison . B Mo was 5ft 9 standing on a phone book, soft and was certainly not the glue to his line. With a good centre those guys would have put up some scary numbers.

I think BMo was and is seriously underrated.

What did Näslund ever achieve before or after he played with Morrison?

And during the 2004 lockout Brendan played on a line with Huselius and Knuble in the SHL, and they were topping the scoring stats. Sure, Huselius andKnuble are half decent in their own right, but we had players like Hossa, Forsberg and Näslund here too. So what did Knuble and Huselius have that Forsberg and Hossa didn't?Brendan Morrison playing on their line.

Huselius would have run away with the scoring title, but as you see he only played 34 games. There was a bit of a scandal involving three national team players and a drunk girl, and the three, Huselius being one of them, were suspended for the season.

Other anomalies; Weinhandl was playing with Forsberg, who bounced pucks off his stick into goal. Horcoff was playing with Hossa. When checking the stats I do realize that neither Hossa, Forsberg nor Näslund played the full season. Neither did Alfredsson who joined late in the season and was the best scorer of the playoffs.

Either way, the point I was trying to make is that BMo always made those around him better, but seldom got any credit for it.